Amid growing fears of a massive electromagnetic pulse hit from either a solar flare or a terrorist nuclear bomb, House Republicans on Tuesday will unveil a plan to save the nation's electric grid from an attack that could mean lights out for 300 million Americans.

Dubbed the Secure High-voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage Act, the legislation would push the federal government to install grid-saving devices such as surge protectors to protect against an attack.

"It is critical that we protect our major transformers from cascading destruction. The Shield Act encourages industry to develop standards necessary to protect our electric infrastructure against both natural and man-made EMP events," said Rep. Trent Franks, the Arizona Republican who is offering up the bipartisan bill.

Electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, has come into focus because of fears the sun is pushing out unusually big solar flares that can disrupt the electric grid. Defense officials are also worried about a terrorist attack, possibly in the form of a small nuclear bomb exploded overhead.

"This is serious stuff," said former Pentagon official Frank Gaffney, who heads the Center for Security Policy. But, he added, there is a growing bipartisan consensus to protect the electric grid.

Any EMP attack could be damaging, said Gaffney. He cited a new Lloyds of London report that determined that the area from Washington, D.C., to New York could be without electricity for up to two years in a major solar flare-up.

The legislation will be introduced Tuesday by Franks and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at a meeting of the House EMP Caucus. Officials said that the legislation, provided in advance to Secrets, will include information from a recent EMP commission report that "contemporary U.S. society is not structured, nor does it have the means, to provide for the needs of nearly 300 million Americans without electricity.''

Gaffney told Secrets that there are some 300 huge electric transformers around the nation that control the grid and that have to be protected. "You are basically talking about surge protectors, of a somewhat exotic kind, but it is a means of interrupting the pulse," he said.

That didn't make any sense to me. And I've sized a lot of motors for process applications.

Think mass flow or breaking a thixotropic fluid.

In a throttling type application, with a varying process, that is quite true.

Around here, atmospheric temperatures vary some 50°F daily. That changes delivered fluid viscosities considerably as well as demands on cooling fans. Cycling the fans was not an option for us as viscosity control and therefore temperature control, both in process materials and ambient conditions meant everything to us in terms of material cost in the final product.

I know where that is. In a disaster situation, I don’t think massive movement on highways would be to that area from where you are - that’s a good spot. I lived in east Texas near Longview, Texas, growing up.

104
posted on 06/20/2013 12:17:14 PM PDT
by Marcella
(Prepping can save your life today. I am a Christian, not a Muslim.)

Spare Transformers or the existing ones? And if the transformers survive, but all the other equipment fails, what have you accomplished?

Stored implies spare transformers and equipment. If by 'other equipment' you mean your microwave then nothing. An EMP is not going to get every piece of electronics everywhere so hopefully there will still be plenty of eq. to use the grid. Me? I'm building my 4kw solar power system now. I've bought an extra 4000w inverter, charger and am storing 1000w of panels just in case.

108
posted on 06/20/2013 12:46:10 PM PDT
by TangoLimaSierra
(To the left the truth looks like Right-Wing extremism.)

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.